TorrentFreak

After The Pirate Bay’s new Greenland-based domains were suspended earlier this month, the world’s largest file-sharing site has found a safe haven in Iceland. From now on TPB can be reached via ThePirateBay.is without the imminent threat of another domain suspension. The Icelandic registry informs TorrentFreak that they will not take action against the domain unless a court order requires them to do so.

The Pirate Bay has begun accepting contributions from the public, allowing users to donate exclusively via the P2P crypto-currency Bitcoin. One of the advantages for the operators of the infamous BitTorrent site is that Bitcoin funds can’t easily be seized or traced back to a person. The downside, on the other hand, is that everything that’s sent to a Bitcoin address is public, so the entire world can see how many virtual coins are rolling in.

In anticipation of having their Swedish domain name seized, this week the crew of The Pirate Bay took evasive action. In the early hours of Tuesday morning they switched to two Greenland-based domains, but already the plan is starting to unravel. The telecoms company in charge of the .GL TLD says it will now block the domains after deciding they will be used illegally.

The Pirate Bay has received indications that the Swedish authorities might soon attempt to seize the site’s .se domain. In anticipation of this move, today the world’s largest file-sharing site switched to Greenland’s .gl domain. The move comes with a set of new IP-addresses which raises the possibility that existing ISP blockades might be bypassed, at least temporarily.

When the lawsuit against the Pirate Bay began, hip-hop artist Max Peezay found out that his album was being used by the IFPI as evidence to claim damages from the founders. Peezay, however, wanted nothing to do with the case and never gave the record labels permission to use his work. In an interview released today the artist looks back on the events and describes how he eventually managed to disconnect from the lawsuit, but not without consequence.

The Pirate Bay is now the most-visited file-sharing site on the Internet, taking over the lead from prominent one-click hosting sites such as 4Shared and Mediafire. After a spectacular rise in the early years of this decade cyberlockers are quickly losing ground, while BitTorrent sites continue to grow. This shift in balance can be attributed to the Megaupload shutdown, and the changes in the cyberlocker market that followed.

Last week the European Court of Human Rights rejected an application to hear the cases of Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij, two of the co-founders of The Pirate Bay. The MPAA has now come out to applaud the decision, claiming that they are tired of pirates hijacking the term “freedom of expression.” Criminals shouldn’t hide behind such basic rights, the Hollywood group believes.